This Wednesday, Christians who follow the Western church calendar will enter a 40-day period of prayer, fasting, and spiritual reflection known as Lent. This spiritual practice is recognized by many high Christian traditions, but it’s also widely practiced in nonliturgical circles.

Lent is a season of preparation that traditionally includes penitence, prayer, and fasting; it culminates in the celebration of Easter.

A fresh perspective for Lent

In addition to regular Bible readings, devotional resources can bring fresh perspective to this season.Lexham Press is pleased to introduce 40 Days to the Cross: Reflections from Great Thinkers, a resource that will guide you through Lent. You’ll journey withAugustine, Irenaeus, Thomas à Kempis, Thomas Aquinas, John Newton, Charles Spurgeon, and others as they offer insights into Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection.

You’ll be prompted to the act of confession with readings from the Psalms, and reflect on Christ’s journey to the cross with readings from Matthew. In our busy world, it’s easy to neglect the simple act of self-examination. Probing response questions at the end of each devotional will prompt you to dig deep and then end your devotional in prayer.

40 Days to the Cross will help you contemplate our shared experience of Jesus’ death and resurrection—the very center of our faith.

Earlier this month, we let you know about a new partnership with The American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR), an academic organization dedicated to the study and preservation of the culture and history of the Near East.

ASOR, in serving disciplines like biblical studies and archaeology, aims not only to facilitate conversations among academics but to make cutting-edge research accessible outside the academy. Toward this end, ASOR publishes three journals for scholars and lay audiences, and we’ve made several of them available on Pre-Pub. If you’re interested in emerging scholarship in biblical studies and archaeology, you’ll want these resources in your Logos library.

From Hittite ritual to Sumerian folktales

Cuneiform, which originated in what’s now Iraq and developed from pictographs, is one of the earliest-known systems of writing. The Journal of Cuneiform Studies (JCS) was foundedin 1947 to explore this window into the ancient world. Featuring articles on the history and languages of the ancient Mesopotamian and Anatolian literate cultures, JCS is published once a year and includes over 140 pages per issue. This particular collection includes 21 years of the JCS catalog—you’ll receive a massive amount of recently published material in the field. With article topics ranging from Hittite ritual to Sumerian folktales, from the practices of Neo-Babylonian court scribes to analysis of archaeological artifacts, this collection gives you a wealth of cutting-edge scholarship.

Expand your understanding of the ancient world—the context of Scripture—with this valuable series. Make your Logos library a richer environment in which to learn about archaeology. Pre-order theJournal of Cuneiform Studiesbefore the price goes up!

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was among the most interesting, inspiring people you’ll ever read about. Not only was he a theologian, a poet, a secret-service double agent, a musician, and one of the most famous martyrs of the twentieth century—he also played a role in the famous “July 20″ plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

The making of a martyr

In the wake of World War I, the Germans were desperate for a strong, proud leader who would guide Germany to economic and social recovery. When the enigmatic Hitler became chancellor and later dictator, much of Germany embraced his ambitious vision. But not everyone was fooled. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a gifted pianist who, despite his aristocratic family’s wishes, became a minister and theologian, was determined to remove the Nazis from power—even if it killed him.

Nothing—not even Hitler’s suffocating grip on civil liberties—could stop Bonhoeffer from preaching the truth. After being banned from openly teaching, Bonhoeffer worked in an underground ministry. After his ministry was discovered and the church became terrified to speak out against Hitler, Bonhoeffer joined the German secret service as a double agent, helping Jews escape Nazi oppression. He even turned down the chance to seek refuge in America, where he was touring as a guest lecturer, writing:

“I have made a mistake in coming to America. I must live through this difficult period in our national history with the Christian people of Germany. I will have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people.”

On April 5, 1943, after returning to Germany, Boenhoeffer was arrested for his resistance efforts. He spent the next year and half incarcerated, and was later moved to Buchenwald. Even while imprisoned, Bonhoeffer continued ministering and developing his theology, much of which is documented in his Letters and Papers from Prison.

On April 9, 1945, one month before Germany surrendered, Bonhoeffer was hanged. A witness said he approached the gallows “brave and composed” and kneeled on the floor “praying fervently to his God.” Even at the precipice of certain death, Bonhoeffer’s faith never wavered.

Get a free book on Bonhoeffer

Learn more about Bonhoeffer’s extraordinary life and theology with March’s Free Book of the Month: Bonhoeffer for Armchair Theologians, which offers dozens of illustrations and insights into Bonhoeffer’s background and legacy.

Logos 5 offers so many time-saving features that it can be hard to keep track of them all. Here are three I use on a regular basis:

1. “Update Now”

You can force an update by typing “Update Now” into the command box, which directs Logos to search for updates to both the software and all your resources. Resource updates include things like additional links, typo fixes, and—of course—downloads of new books you’ve recently purchased. Logos updates itself on its own, but Update Now starts the process immediately.

2. “Close All”

My favorite layout includes an exegetical guide, a passage guide, a half-dozen Bibles, four commentaries, and the info tool. I usually start there and, as I study, open even more books, guides, and Bibles. It’s not uncommon for me to end up with three dozen tabs open across four different panes. It would take at least two minutes to close them individually, but I can close them all at once by typing “Close All” into the command box.

3. “Facilitate Serendipitous Discovery”

Many Logos users have multiple thousands of books. With a theological library that large, you might have books you’ve never read—or even opened. The Facilitate Serendipitous Discovery (FSD) command opens a resource at random, so you can get to know even more of your library. Type “FSD” into the command box to start exploring. I use this command daily, and I’m still finding new things.

Bonus: drag to shortcuts bar

All three of these commands can be saved to the shortcuts bar. Just type them and then, rather than pressing enter to execute, drag the command from the dropdown menu into your shortcuts bar, to the right of the command box.

As you can see, “update now,” “close all,” and “FSD” are the first three items on my shortcuts bar. You can add your favorite Bibles, books, tools, and layouts, too.

Lewis Sperry Chafer (born this day in 1871) was an American Presbyterian clergyman and educator, born in Rock Creek, Ohio. He studied at New Lyme Academy in Ohio, at Oberlin (Ohio) Conservatory and College, and under C. I. Scofield. He also taught Bible at the Philadelphia School of the Bible from 1914 to 1923. In 1924, he founded the Evangelical Theological College—now Dallas Theological Seminary.

His father, Thomas Franklin Chafer, was a Congregational pastor; he and his wife, Lomira Sperry Chafer, were devoted, caring parents. Thomas died when Lewis was just 11.

Books are heirlooms

Despite his early passing, Lewis’ father left something behind. He left his library of books, including his beloved John Owen commentary, in which we found this flyleaf while converting the commentary to a Logos resource. First, the Owen commentary belonged to Thomas Franklin Chafer; then it was passed on to young Lewis; from there, it went with Lewis to seminary.

Leaving digital books to your children might not be something you think about when you’re building up your Logos library. But your books—the pages that brought you to a deeper understanding of God’s Word—are one of the most important things you can leave to your child. After all, why would you build up an entire library just for it to be forgotten?

With Logos, you can leave a legacy.Your license is transferable, and it never expires. You can pass your library down for the generations to come.

Thomas Franklin Chafer had it right when he left his library to Lewis—it must have meant so much more to build a library secure in the knowledge that he’d be passing it down to his son. Little did he know that, through Lewis, so many people would be trained up in the study of God’s Word! Lewis Sperry Chafer took that modest library and turned it into a legacy of his own: he went on to become one of the most beloved theologians of the early twentieth century, and he left behind a seminary that’s educated thousands of young teachers.

Knox Theological Seminary has assembled a remarkable faculty of world-class scholars and educators. When you enroll in a Knox/Logos Doctor of Ministry or master’s program, these experts become your instructors and lecturers.

Featured faculty member: Dr. Jim Belcher

Dr. Jim Belcher holds a BA from Gordon College, an MDiv from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a PhD from Georgetown University; he’s the author of Deep Church and In Search of Deep Faith. Dr. Belcher is Knox’s associate professor of practical theology.

Both his books and his lectures are saturated with wisdom gained from years of pastoring, parenting, and teaching.His passion for teaching the Christian life and faith is contagious—it shows not only in his lectures, but also in the lives of his students. His teaching ministry is shaped by the words of Nicholas Wolterstorff, who said that “Shalom is God’s cause in the world and our human calling . . . We are workers in God’s cause, his peace-workers. This missio Dei is our mission.” Dr. Belcher takes these words to heart, living out this mission and instilling the same dedication to God’s work in his students.

Explore the emerging and traditional churches

In June, Dr. Belcher will be teaching a five-day intensive Doctor of Ministry course in Fort Lauderdale, FL, titled Mission and Tradition: Seeking Balance in Ministry.

“This course will explore the emerging and traditional churches, as we seek to discover a third way to be the Church in the 21st century. Deep Church is the phrase C. S. Lewis used to describe the body of believers committed to mere Christianity. Unfortunately church in our postmodern era has been marked by a certain shallowness. This course brings hope to those who may be fed up with contemporary pragmatism by offering alternative visions for this present culture. While some traditional churches have reacted negatively and/or defensively, we will seek to bring the best insights from all sides of the issue to forge a third way between emerging and traditional: a missional church committed to both its own culture and its Christian tradition, valuing innovation in worships, arts, and community (mission) but also creeds, confessions, and historic patterns of worship and discipleship (tradition).”

Logos’ Pastorum Series is a collection of resources for pastors. It launched in fall 2012 with the Pastorum Series Collection (7 vols.), which includes 300 Quotations for Preachers, 400 Prayers for Preachers, and five volumes of the Study, Apply, Share series. Since then, we’ve added 1,500 Quotations for Preachers to the series.

Why people love it

“I regularly utilize prayers from the historical Church in Sunday worship and frequently quote ‘old dead guys’—the lions of the Church through the centuries—in my messages, so this pair of resources is proving highly valuable. Both are organized by author and by preaching theme and, being . . . part of Logos, they are easily searchable. Better yet, each quote or prayer is already placed on a PowerPoint slide you can drop right into your presentation. Highly recommended for all those who teach and preach the Bible!”

—Tim Morey, pastor of Life Covenant Church (Torrance, CA), author of Embodying Our Faith: Becoming a Living, Sharing, Practicing Church

“There are two main strengths of [300 Quotations and 400 Prayers]. First is the content. [Ritzema] was really thorough in pulling from many different people and over a long period of time. . . . Second is that it is organized extremely well, and that makes navigating it and finding what you need fast and effective. . . . These are the things that make this [resource] superior to going to Google and combing through random quotes . . . and then having to take what you find and make a slide for it.”

—Matt Dabbs, preaching minister at Westside Church of Christ (St. Petersburg, FL), blogger at Kingdom Living

“As a pastor, I’m always on the lookout for resources to help me with the main idea and structure of my weekly sermons. Jeff Miller, Elliot Ritzema, and the Logos team have done pastors and teachers a huge service by providing the Study, Apply, Share series of commentaries. Not only does it conveniently link each passage to digital resources and study tools, but there are suggested themes for each passage of Scripture. I especially appreciate the statistical slides, which are helpful for exploring the theme of each section but also can be used to better present those themes to my congregation. This is a wonderful resource, and one that every teacher will find helpful.”

“As an entire collection, these resources are a tremendous help to the overworked preacher. . . . Miller helps preachers delve into the Bible, study deeply, and present relevant messages. Ritzema’s resources give preachers and worship planners a means of introducing the congregation to significant voices from Church history. Taken together, they help pastors and worship leaders plan Sunday worship in a cohesive way. I happily recommend this resource and believe that preachers will make good use of it.”

Did you know that Pillar has two full commentaries on Romans, by Leon Morris and Colin G. Kruse? This updated collection now includes both, giving you twice the scholarship on Paul’s theological masterwork.

Featuring over two decades of award-winning biblical studies, devotional guides, and stimulating articles on Christian history and theology, Christian living, and Bible scholarship, Tabletalk Magazine continues to deliver outstanding content read by hundreds of thousands every month. Now updated to include issues through February 2013, the Logos edition helps you dig deeper into Tabletalk‘s Bible studies and theological and historical articles.

Acclaimed by pastors and students alike, the Exploring the Bible Commentary helps you understand, apply, and live according to the Word. It emphasizes tough questions and real-world applications.

3 ways to save

Logos makes it easy to get the volumes you want:

1. You won’t pay for what you already own. See the discounted price on the product page? As long as you’re logged in, that figure takes into account all the issues or volumes you’ve already bought.

2. You can pay at your convenience, but use your new resources right now. With Logos’ payment plans, you can pick up entire commentary sets and spread out the cost so it fits your budget. Make manageable monthly payments, and start using every volume today!

3. You’ll save by buying in bulk. If you were to purchase each Pillar commentary individually, you would pay around $622.26. By upgrading with the collection, you can get the entire series for $524.95.

Pastors, teachers, and church leaders regularly suffer from stress and burnout—the emotional and spiritual toll of day-to-day ministry can overwhelm even the best efforts of those in positions of leadership. If you’re feeling worn out, practical ideas and advice from other experienced teachers could be just the help you need.

Here are a few great resources on discipleship—they’re on sale right now!

The renowned Christian Educator’s Handbook series has long been a popular source for practical and reliable information on teaching from a biblical foundation. Each book offers Christian educators sound insight into a wide variety of topics, from the best way to integrate a Christian worldview into the classroom to the state of adult education today. The series tackles each issue from a variety of angles, with contributing chapters by well-known evangelical authors.

As editor Richard Longenecker puts it: “[discipleship] needs better biblical rootage than it usually receives in the popular press and better personal application than it usually receives in scholarly writings.” Patterns of Discipleship in the New Testament seeks to provide both, encouraging you to grow in biblical knowledge as well as in practical discipleship.

We can now offer you an even lower price, but we don’t know how long this deal will last.

These are expensive, valuable volumes. Check out the numbers for yourself:

Normally, at full print list prices, you would pay more than $2,387.00 for the full set.

A while back, we looked around for the lowest prices available; the best deals we could find added up to $1,747.00.

Many of the individual volumes in this collection would cost you more than $100.00 each.

Three of these books list at over $200.00 each, all the way up to $255.00!

The main takeaway here is that these are important, sought-after volumes. People regularly pay hundreds of dollars for these books (and thousands of dollars for the set)—but now we’re able to offer the complete Oxford History of the Christian Church for $399.95.

Consider the price of the set, and think about how each of these books normally costs $100 to $300 each—if you’ve thought about getting only one or two of them, it’s a much better deal to pre-order the entire 16-volume set instead.

And $399.95 is an even more amazing price when you consider the value of having these books in your digital library, with citations linked to their sources, powerful search features, automatic citations when you copy–paste, and so much more.

One other important thing to consider: we don’t know how long this price will last. This set could go into development tomorrow, next week, next month—we simply don’t know. And when it ships, the price will jump dramatically.

Pre-order now!

You have nothing to lose by pre-ordering. We won’t charge your card until the product ships (plus we’ll remind you a few weeks beforehand), and you can cancel at any time.

(If you’ve already pre-ordered, don’t worry—we’re still honoring our commitment that you’ll always get the best price by pre-ordering early. Your price has been automatically lowered to the new price, and there’s nothing you need to do to make sure you get the best deal.)